Chris's Championship Challenge - A Pokemon Blue Nuzlocke Adventure
by Pokeman92
Summary: This is a story based of a Nuzlocke run of Pokemon Blue Version. Chris (No relation to any in-game characters of the same name), a 10 year old boy from Pallet Town, reluctantly goes off on an adventure to discover the truth about Pokemon and the world. Join Chris as he discovers what it really means to be a pokemon trainer!
1. Prologue

_**Journal entry dated September 30, 1998 - The Long Journey Begins...**_

Today is the day that my Pokemon journey is supposed to begin. Honestly I'm having mixed feelings about the whole thing...I'm not sure I want to go out and travel the world, or try to take on the Gym Leaders. What's wrong with playing with my Pokemon at home? Surely something as cuddly as a Charmander would love to play tag and run around all day instead of battling to the death, but Mom won't let me stay at home any longer. She says that Pokemon are not like house pets and they have no place in town, so I have to take them out into the wild and tame them first. How bad could Pokemon possibly be that they aren't allowed outside their Pokeballs in town, except for in organized battle? Sure, they have powerful attacks, but I can punch someone pretty hard myself. There has to be a way to get them all to understand that Pokemon aren't monsters!

Regardless, until I can prove that to my Mom, I will have to abide by her wishes. I have to be at Professor Oak's Lab by 10am to get my first Pokemon. From there...well I'm not really sure what's going to happen, but here's hoping for the best.

-Chris

* * *

"CHRIS! IT'S TIME TO GET UP!"

"Mmph..."

"DON'T MAKE ME COME UP THERE AND DRAG YOU OUT OF BED, YOUNG MAN!"

"Alright, I'm getting up!"

Chris rolled over in bed and opened his eyes to glance at the clock on his bedside table, only to quickly shut them again as the sunlight from his bedside window seared through his pupils and blinded him. Chris ducked back under the covers and tried to remember what he had been dreaming about before he was so rudely interrupted.

_It had something to do with the forest...I was walking through the forest looking for something-I can't remember what-and I saw another person. A boy. He had very messy black hair and was dressed in a bright red vest and blue jeans. He was training a grass Pokemon of some sort...maybe a Bulbasaur? But the trainer, he wasn't being kind to his Pokemon at all. He was...yelling at it and pushing it around, like it was __below__ him, a mere slave for battle and nothing more. The kid noticed I was watching and looked up at me with an evil grin. He pointed straight at me...and he commanded his Bulbasaur to charge. I couldn't believe it, how could he order an attack on me? I didn't even have any Pokemon! I turned and ran, I could hear the Bulbasaur scampering along behind me. I could hear the sounds of the forest and the smell of the evergreen trees like it was all too real. The wind rushed by faster than it had ever felt before as I raced along the pathway as fast as I could, but the scampering noise got closer and closer, louder and louder, until I thought I could feel the whips from Bulbasaur's Vine Whip attack lashing at my feet. I quickly glanced back to see if the Bulbasaur was gaining ground on me, and-_

"CHRIS! GET DOWN HERE THIS INSTANT!"

_What happened after that? Did I escape?_ "I can't remember..." Chris whispered to himself as he finally let go of the dream, at least for the moment. He dragged his feet over to the edge of the bed and slid into his sneakers as he had done a thousand times before. _But not anymore after today...Damn, I'm not ready for this day..._

Almost ritualistically, every kid upon reaching their 10th birthday was given a Pokemon to tame, and it was up to them to train their starter, capture and raise more Pokemon to build a team, and then challenge the gym leaders of the region with their Pokemon to prove their strength and ability as a pokemon trainer, or so they say. It doesn't matter where you lived or what you wanted to do, once you hit 10 your childhood was basically over and your journey towards either eternal glory or endless mediocrity would begin. It was a make it or break it moment in life for every single person once they hit double digits. Become a master and you could do anything you want, like become a gym leader, or become captain of a ship. You could even just relax by the beach all day and do nothing if you really wanted to. It didn't matter, as the prize money from being champion meant you'd never have to work a day in your life. That was a tall order though, as only one or two trainers would reach champion status _each generation_. If you were like the other 99 percent of the would, you would likely fall short of your goals and would either wind up back in school (If you had a few badges or a well-developed skill), or commit yourself to low-wage labor jobs for the rest of your life.

Unlike most kids-who couldn't wait for their opportunity to shine-Chris just wanted to stay at home and do what he had always done. He'd attend school on the weekdays, play with friends on the weekends, and enjoy life to its fullest for another year, or two, or forever. It didn't matter to Chris what he did at home, all that mattered is that he didn't want to "train" or force Pokemon to battle. He didn't have the heart for it, or so he thought. Chris had been a master at the battle simulators in junior trainer's school, but at least the simulators had generic pixelated trainers and pokemon with simple tactics. It was easy to beat everyone when you only had four attacks to choose from. And the Pokemon...well the Pokemon weren't real...they didn't suffer when you made a wrong move or battled too hard. They'd just press on like it was nothing. It was an entirely different matter to make another living being do something as reckless as charge into a Hyper Beam attack in order to launch a Body Slam.

Unfortunately for Chris, there was simply no choice in the matter, so he reluctantly got up from his bed for the final time, grabbed a somewhat less than fresh white tshirt from the pile of clothes by his bed, and grabbed a beige pair of cargo shorts from the closet. After he had finished putting on all of his clothes, his navy blue vest, backback, blue and white hat, and gloves, he took a good long look at himself in the mirror. Staring back at him was not the Chris that he knew, but a much older one. The Chris that stared back at him looked taller and bulkier than he remembered even from yesterday, and much more solemn. _Can I really do this?_ he asked himself. _Can I really bring myself to put another Pokemon in harm's way for my own selfish reasons?_

Regardless of the answer his destiny called, so Chris reluctantly trudged down the steps into the parlor where his Mom sat ever so patiently by the table.

"Well now, that wasn't so hard, was it?" Mom said with a huge smile as she admired her son. Despite his reluctance, Chris couldn't help but flash the smallest of smiles back at her. "You look just like your older brother did when he first started his journey!"

"You really think so?" Chris asked as he went to sit down at the table to a bowl of Pika Puffs-his favorite cereal. Chris's stomach had plenty to think about already, but he forced a few bites of his breakfast down as his Mom continued.

"Of course! You know, Nathan didn't want to go get his Pokemon at first either, but you should have seen how happy he was when Professor Oak gave him a wonderful little Charmander. He was so excited to finally start his journey that he completely forgot about being nervous!"

"I'm not nervous about my _journey_, Mom..."

"Of course you're not, and why should you be? You've aced every battle sim in town! You'll be a champion dear, I know it!"

Chris faked another smile and drank the milk at the bottom of his cereal bowl. He then got up to wash the bowl but Mom quickly snapped it away. "Don't be silly dear, you're cutting it close as it is. You'd better hurry and get over to Professor Oak's Lab if you want to get your Pokemon! Now go, run! I'll be over in time to see you off. Love you dear!"

And with a quick kiss and a shove, Chris found himself outside feeling very much alone.


	2. Rhapsody in Blue

**Rhapsody in Blue**

"Hey, Chris!"

_Great…_Chris instantly knew who was calling his name and was in no mood to begin talking to Blue again, but surely enough when he looked behind him there he was, running down the road towards him. It took only a moment before Blue pulled up alongside him and gave a playful jab at Chris, who instinctively backed up a step and held up a hand to stop him, before realizing it was just a jest.

"Hi, Blue," Chris said as he dropped his arm to his side and took a further half-step away from Blue, hoping to avoid a prolonged conversation.

Completely unfazed by Chris's disinterest in physical contact, Blue took another step towards Chris and slung his arm around him, continuing, "What's up, loser? I haven't seen you around since school ended."

Chris rolled his eyes. "You're still on about that battle sim victory, aren't you?" he asked, deliberately removing Blue's arm from his neck. "I told you it was all luck."

Blue stood startled for a second, but then let out a chuckle. "Yeah right!" he chortled. "I beat you fair and square and you're just a sore loser about it."

"You won a _single _match against me," Chris replied coldly. "I still won the other 50."

"That still has to count for something," Blue remarked. "Anyway, we'll see who the best trainer really is when we get our pokémon today!" Blue grabbed Chris's arm and pulled him in the direction of the lab. "Now come on! We're gonna be late if you just stand around all day."

"Right," Chris said almost inaudibly as he shook off Blue's arm, and the two of them began walking at a somewhat brisk pace. Blue was still as pretentious as always, Chris realized. It came as no surprise, but he had hoped that Blue's ego would be at least a bit deflated by now.

"So what's been going on with you?" Blue asked. "Anything interesting?"

"Not really." Chris replied simply.

"Come on. There's got to be _something_. No sight-seeing at the lab or interesting battles on TV that you saw? You _always _went on and on about the E4 battles in school."

"I sort of lost interest," Chris said with a sigh.

"Lost interest? You?!" Blue exclaimed, shocked at Chris's nonchalant answer. "I don't believe that for a second. You're the craziest poké-freak I know!"

"Gee, thanks."

"No problem!" Blue quipped. When Chris did not say anything else, he added. "So what have you been up to?"

"I've been reading up on all the major cities and towns in the region to get ready for my journey."

"Finding out what types all the gym leaders prefer, huh? That's pretty smart." Blue chuckled again. "I wish I had thought of that. So who runs the new Viridian Gym? That's probably the first one we'll have to beat."

"I don't know. I was looking more at the towns in general to see what they were like."

"Oh…you don't want to tell me, huh?" Blue crossed his arms and stared Chris down to see if he could intimidate him into telling what he found out. When Chris said nothing, he shrugged and said, "I get it, I should have done my own homework!"

"Yup."

In truth, Chris knew nothing about the Viridian Gym. He had been pondering what to do on his journey for the past month, ever since he decided he was not going to take the gym challenge seriously. He had a bit of money saved up for his journey, so he read all about all sorts of things he could do while burning time, like seeing the fantastic water shows in Cerulean city, visiting the Museum in Pewter City, and going shopping for some video games at the Celadon Department Store. He imagined about 6 months of travel would be enough, and he had just enough money for it all if he slept outside most nights.

The paved roads eventually gave way to dirt as Chris and Blue reached the outskirts of town. The large wind turbine atop the lab was finally poking through the hills of Professor Oak's ranch. It would not be long before they reached the entrance. Chris's stomach began to churn and knot again as he realized that he'd have to receive his actual starter pokémon in a few minutes.

"So," Blue continued loudly. "I heard your brother was back in town last month. His name's Jacob, right?"

"…Yes" Chris did not want to talk about his brother right now, but Blue was not exactly someone to let go of a discussion once it started. "He was home for a few days before heading off to Cinnabar Island."

"Man, you're so lucky!" Blue moaned. "I wish my older sister had done well on her pokémon journey, but she failed and now she just sits at home and reads books all day! Plus it doesn't help that my grandpa always keeps his research from us." Blue frowned and looked down at his feet, watching the dirt rise up from the ground with mild interest before suddenly turning to Chris again. "Hey, did your bother teach you any tricks to training pokémon?"

"Can we not talk about my brother, please?!" Chris snapped. Blue had hit a nerve, but Chris realized his outburst towards Blue was unfounded, so he quickly added, "Sorry. We aren't on the best of terms since he came back."

Blue was silent for a moment, but then quietly apologized. "I'm sorry, Chris. I didn't realize you two don't get along anymore. You always seemed to be best buds before he left, so I just assumed-"

"It's fine," Chris interrupted. "He and I just…grew apart I guess." It was a lie, but Chris hoped it was enough to satiate Blue, at least for the moment.

Blue opened his mouth to say something, but quickly closed it again as they arrived at the entrance to the lab. Professor Oak was standing just outside the gate waiting for them. He was an older gentleman, much taller than the two boys. He wore a bright white lab coat that perfectly complimented the white streaks that shone through his otherwise gray hair, and he had the stern look of someone who was about to scold you for not standing up straight. Of all the times Chris had visited the lab grounds to try and spot some Pokemon, he had never actually seen Professor Oak up close before. In fact, the professor almost never went outside to tend to the fields, instead leaving the work up to his aides, so Chris wasn't sure what to expect of this meeting. As the two approached, however, Professor Oak's stern frown quickly turned to a smile.

"Hello, you two!" the professor said, his voice low and cracking, but full of genuine interest over Chris and Blue. "I'm Professor Oak, and I will be giving you your first pokémon today. Are you both ready?"

"Yes, sir," Chris said, trying as best he could to fake his own smile. The professor seemed nice enough, for now.

"Yes, Gramps!" Blue exclaimed, jumping in the air and pumping his fist like he had just won a battle. "I can't wait to see who my starter will be!"

"Good. This way, please," Professor Oak said as he opened the gate and ushered the two kids through, closing it behind him. "I've got three very rare and special Pokémon for you two to choose from today that you've probably never seen before, not even in your class simulations. I hope you two think hard before making your selections."

"You mean we get to choose?" Chris asked, his interest picking up for the first time all morning.

"Of course!" the professor replied. "Your starter is a very important pokémon. It's the pokémon that will be with you the longest, so it's vital that you pick a partner that you can bond with easily."

"I didn't know that." Chris had thought that a pokémon would just be randomly assigned to them. With his luck he had figured he would end up with a Rattata or something useless like that, not that it really mattered. He was not planning on doing much battling anyway. In fact, he did not plan on doing any.

Professor Oak led the two into a small section of the lab towards the back of the building. Inside was a single room dominated mostly by a very large super computer. The device had a rather blocky red and white base full of banks of lights, fan vents, buttons, and wires running just about everywhere imaginable. The top consisted of a very large glass dome with an open cylindrical tube in the center. Professor Oak pressed a series of buttons on the base of the machine and three pokéballs swooped up from somewhere inside the base and came to rest inside the cylindrical tube. The professor grabbed each one and placed them along a small table on the left of the machine, then turned to Chris and Blue.

"Now," began Professor Oak. "Before I let you choose which pokémon you would like for your starter, let me tell you a bit about each of them. First up is Charmander," the professor stated, pointing to the ball on the left. "This is a small fire-type pokémon with a body like a large lizard and a flaming tail. He's very playful, but also a bit tricky to tame. He also has plenty of attack power and speed, but lacks defense and endurance.

"The water pokémon, Squirtle, is in the pokéball in the middle," the professor continued. "He's got the shell of a turtle and can spray powerful foam and water from his mouth in an instant. He's got very good defense and average attack, but lacks speed."

"What's the last one?" Blue asked excitedly. He could barely contain his excitement and had taken to bouncing up and down in place, much like a child that had too much sugar.

"Be patient, Blue!" Professor Oak said sternly. "I was just about to tell you two." He turned back to the table and pointed to the last pokéball on the table. "This last one is the grass pokémon, Bulbasaur. He's got a large plant growing on his back that can launch whips and leaves into powerful attacks, but he's also got lower than normal defense and is a bit slow. Granted, he's not quite as slow as Squirtle, but it's enough to make a difference in battles."

Having finished talking about the starters, Professor Oak walked back over to the large pokémon storage machine in the center and pressed another button. This time, a side panel slid out to reveal two red handheld devices with a flip screen and a large lens at the front. "Now, before I give you two your pokémon, I have a gift for you both. This," he said, holding up the device, "is my new invention, the Pokédex! It collects data on Pokémon you've seen and caught, sort of like a high-tech encyclopedia! It's got some basic info on all of the pokémon known to be in existence, but it will also analyze and provide information and statistics on the pokémon you own."

"Like what, exactly?" Chris asked as the professor handed a Pokédex to both of the new trainers.

"I'll let you figure that all out on your own," Professor Oak said, winking at Chris. "I'm sure you will find it very useful for developing strategies with your team."

Chris examined the Pokédex in his hand. It was a bit heavier than he expected, weighing about as much as a small textbook but in a much more compact size. He slid his hands across the device and noticed a tiny button that was slightly recessed on the side. Upon pressing the button, the Pokédex flipped open like a book and a small screen inside powered on.

"Welcome to Pokédex version 1.0," a female mechanical voice said abruptly, and Chris almost dropped his new Pokédex in surprise. Blue was startled by the sudden voice as well, and immediately looked down to his own unopened device, expecting it to follow with its own greeting.

"Oh, right," Professor Oak said with a chuckle. "I should have told you that the Pokédex has a speech synthesizer. You can turn it off if you find it intrusive. As of right now it generally provides very little useful information, but it's really there for future development."

"That's cool!" Blue said loudly, examining his device once more. When he could not find out how to open it, he turned to Chris and asked, "How did you turn yours on?"

"Um, I just pressed this little button on the side, I think," Chris said letting his fingers roll over the small round button again. "It's on the-"

"FOUND IT!" Blue yelled as his own device opened up and then greeted him, this one in a male voice.

"By the way," Professor Oak said. "Your Pokédex should ask for your name on the screen. Please be sure to give it your first and last name without any typos, as these devices will act as your identification. Got it?"

"Yes, sir," Chris answered as looked down at the screen again. Just as the professor had said, the prompt was asking for a name, so he began typing "CHRIS CHANDLER" into the prompt on the screen. A quick glance at blue showed that he was doing the same. When he finished, Chris pressed the 'enter' button, and the device refreshed, displaying his name in fine print at the top of the screen, with a bunch of menu buttons filling the remaining space.

"So, Gramps," Blue said as soon as he finished with his own Pokédex. "Do we get our pokémon now?!"

"As impatient as always, I see," Professor Oak chided. "Very well, on to the pokémon. Chris, as the oldest by a day, you get to choose first."

"What?!" Blue wailed. "I wanted to pick first!"

"BE QUIET, BLUE!" the professor shouted, his temple throbbing in anger now. "You will pick second!" Blue immediately got the message to stay silent and backed up a few steps as an extra precaution. Professor Oak waited a few extra seconds, then turned his attention back to a very flustered Chris. "Now, Chris," He continued in a much softer voice and another genuine smile. "Be sure to think carefully about your selection, your partner will be the core of your new team. Which will you choose?"

Chris pocketed his Pokédex and, not really caring one way or another, walked up to the table and purposefully placed his finger on the ball in the center. "I'll take this one."

"So you want Squirtle?" Professor Oak asked.

"Yes." Chris said definitively, trying to remember which one that was as he took the pokéball from the table.

"Ok!" The professor exclaimed, clapping his hands together. "I think that's a great choice, Chris! Be sure to raise your Pokémon with lots of love and care."

"Ok," Chris said as he placed the pokéball in his shorts pocket.

"My turn!" Blue declared as he rushed up to the table.

"Yes," Professor Oak sighed as he shook his head. "Go ahead and pick which one you would like."

"Well, considering the fact that you picked a water type, Chris," Blue started, smiling broadly at the two pokéballs in front of him. "I'll go with the grass type, Bulbasaur!"

"Ok," Professor Oak said. "Now that we've finished handing out the Pokémon, I just need to give you one more thing." The professor opened a drawer on the other side of the table and pulled out two sheets of paper. "These," he said, handing one to Blue and one to Chris, "are this year's revisions on the Pokemon League Trainer's Agreement. There's a copy of the official rules in your Pokédexes that will act as your handbook, but these rules are not listed in them yet. So in case you were unaware of the new rules, you now have them for reference."

Chris scanned the sheet of paper in his hands:

ATTENTION ALL TRAINERS:

Effective immediately, the following rules are applied to all Pokémon Trainers, present and future, until stated otherwise:

1) Due to new poaching laws, trainers may only capture a limited number of pokémon. In each officially designated route, trail, forest, care, or other segregated area of the region of Kanto as shown in the 1998 Indigo League Town Map, a trainer may only attempt to capture ONE (1) pokémon _PER YEAR_. Once the trainer has captured ONE (1) pokémon in a particular area, they may not capture another in that area again until 1 year has passed from the date of capture. Failure to adhere to this rule may result in the immediate revocation of a trainer's license for up to FIVE (5) years and may lead to permanent exclusion from the Pokémon League in ALL REGIONS.

a. Trainers that attempt to capture a pokémon in an area and fail (i.e. the pokémon gets away or faints) may NOT attempt to capture another pokémon in the area under any circumstances. Penalties for violation of this rule are the same as listed above for section 1.

2) While vitamins and minerals such as Iron, Zinc. Carbos, and the like are allowed as stat-enhancing items, other items such as Rare Candy and other steroids may NEVER be used on pokémon. These artificial performance enhancers have been proven to cause irreversible harm and shorten the lifespan of all pokémon. Any trainer found to have administered these drugs to their pokémon will face a MINIMUM of ONE (1) month in jail and THREE (3) years of probation. Furthermore, their license to train pokémon will be PERMANENTLY revoked worldwide.

Please ensure you are familiar with these and all rules as outlined in the _Pokémon Trainer's Handbook_.

Signed,

Lance Wataru, Head of the Indigo Conference, Pokémon League

Chris finished reading the sheet of paper, then read it through a second time to be sure he got everything right. "Professor Oak?" he asked, still eyeing the list. "These new rules – how can the league possibly enforce them?"

"Well," Professor Oak started reluctantly. "The Pokédex doesn't _just _record which pokémon you caught. It also records where and when you caught it, and uploads it to a database every time you heal your pokémon at a Pokémon Center."

Chris stared at Professor Oak in disbelief. "So it knows where we are at all times? And will track everything we do?"

"No, no!" Professor Oak said quickly, waving his hands about him as if to shoo Chris off the subject. "That would be illegal. It just determines your location at the moment of every capture. Otherwise it just remains dormant."

"Well…ok," Chris said after a slight pause. It was not really a big deal to him one way or the other, but the idea that somewhere there was a database of him and all the pokémon he caught-and when and where he caught them-was slightly unnerving.

"Alright, then," The professor said, clearly relieved that Chris had not pursued the topic further. "Now, if that's all the questions you have then we'll wrap things up and move to the front of the lab. Your parents should be up front waiting to see you off."

"Wait!" Blue, who had been silent for almost a full five minutes, suddenly stepped in front of Chris and turned to look at him. "Before we go, I challenge you to a battle!"

"Wha-now?" Chris asked, stupefied. He hadn't expected Blue to challenge him on their first day as trainers, and certainly not before they even left the lab.

"Yeah, now!" Blue demanded, staring fiercely at Chris. "You know the rules: 'Any trainer may challenge any other trainer at any time, and they must accept the challenge.' You and I both have pokémon now, and that makes us officiall licensed trainers! You can't refuse my challenge. Now, Let's find out who picked the best starter!"

"Wait!" Professor Oak shouted, pushing the two of them apart. "If you two insist on battling, you will at least do it _outside!_. I will not have you two tearing apart my lab!"

Blue frowned and crossed his arms, turning away from a fuming Professor Oak. "Fine," he puffed, then grabbed Chris's hand. "Let's go!"

Chris could do nothing but follow as Blue dragged him outside to the field directly behind the lab. What should he do? Could he make a run for it? If he did, Blue would just run after him, plus it would make him look like a fool. He'd have to battle, just this once…but could he do it?


End file.
